Diogo Ribeiro

Sid Meyer's Pirates!

Hargrimm? (did I win? :ph34r:)

It's going to be great. Most choices will be somewhere between awesome and pure ownage, but one thing we can all agree is that it will rock, rock long and hard. All the development docs are clocking at +2.5 Mb of "awesome!" written all over them and you can't go wrong with that Just kidding. Eh... Not sure if you were around then. It's not like there is that much info, so I'll just point you into what little there is. Here's a small introduction to it, some insight into the story here, and finally a very brief snippet on the amount of races. Biggest problem at this point is twofold. On one hand there's the story or rather writing the characters into the story and how their struggle would provide credible plot points that would draw the player in; this is the main difficulty I have at the moment. On the other hand since I'm not sure of what Neverwinter Nights 2 can do there are some gameplay elements which I'm not sure we will be able to implement but likely it can be changed into something else.

It does my little black and shrivelled heart some good to be complimented on my writing by someone who writes much better than me. Do you mean in the context of a M

For reference the graphical engine was entirely different but apparently things like databases were kept in more or less the same way.

Judging from your description Spiteful Spirit is "simply" a damage over time effect, Lingering Curse seems to be a specialized variation of Dweomer Shield, while Backfire also seems to be a different way of Reflection Shield. Now none of that is meant to dismiss Guild Wars' spellcasting system or the underlying combat mechanics they provide but likewise several of its spells can also be narrowed down in the same way you did with Arcanum's spells; and I'm sure this can be applied to several other games. It seems clear that Guild Wars' combat, at least when it comes to spellcasting is more superior in options and applications, but then again Guild Wars seems to be strictly based around combat so it's not surprising to find a combat-oriented game to succeed in that very field while a game that isn't exclusively focused on combat to not reach the same level of depth. Note that this isn't meant to justify Arcanum's poor combat but you seem intent on reducing any and all of its combat options to things of less importance or to make them seem so indistinguished to the point of there not being a reason to choose one over others. I think it's sufficient to say that Arcanum is no Guild Wars, but it's also not trying to be. It could be much better but it isn't that abysmal. Though at this point this has become a circular point since it's obvious we both agree on this. Not really since a broken weapon can't always be restored back into its previous resistance, and relying on a form of attack that loses attack power due to continuous confrontations with a given enemy type may not work out for a character; it may be best for him to enchant his fists and use them as a more resilient attack method that won't crack (pun intended) under pressure. But I think the issue here is fleeting because as you say it's relative. It can be used as a means to give the character an advantage over his enemies' action points but it's not the same as naturally having more action points than his enemies. And in some cases of characters who naturally have a high number of action points it may still be in their best interest to use Congeal Time because their action point total may not be enough to whitstand or counter the attack(s) an enemy with less action points would perform. I disagree, as I think that a physical blow which may miss but may also cause additional damage or effects compared to a magical attack that never misses but will not cause additional damage or effects have a considerable positive and negative attached to them which can influence players' decisions to character building as well as their use in combat. They don't pick up their weapons. Obsidian's boards also make the argument seem bigger because of the quoting limits

Can't; 'am allergic to online games. That, plus the character choices left open by that advantage gained by the distance. There are hotkeys. Hitting and running isn't entirely successful because Fatigue factors into movement. A character who uses distance and careful examination of Action Points to run, let the enemy move towards him, go to the enemy, attack it then run back will lose more Fatigue points - and therefore potentially making itself more open to attacks - than he would by taking advantage of other actions, like simply running away (which would cause less fatigue than moving to one place then moving to the other). And it was this very thing I mentioned earlier in regards to the ordinary set of effects found in other games. For instance, I wound up not using most of the spells in Baldur's Gate 2 because they fit your very description - "when I clicked, the monster's hit points would go down" - and so I only used those that, among the basic damage-dealing effect, did so the fastest and hardest. Same for Torment. When it came to damage-dealing options, most were pretty standard and not all too special so it boiled down to only a handful being recurringly used; which doesn't mean there weren't more options but player discretion will unerringly gravitate towards the best or optimal solutions.

How many games are there where the main villains' plan is to conquer the world trough destroying every life force on it? Most of the time it's centered around someone conquering a gameworld so they can rule over it trough power or oppression; or the simple act of conquering or triumphing over something which may or may not oppose the players but will regardless have the two entities clash. But total annihilation to end the suffering of life isn't something I remember seeing used that often as a motive for a videogames' main villain, as compared to the many instances in a videogame where I've seen villains trying to conquer the world for a vague, sometimes even abstract notion of - and desire for - power. I don't think it was terribly special; it just managed to be more appealing to me because for the most part the main villains' motives weren't exactly typical, and neither were the main events that defined the story. But this wasn't your previous point or at least does not seem to be an adequate follow up to what you had stated earlier, which was that J.C. Denton was not your or my character because he did not conform to a list of specifities which in turn justified that more assumptions of the character be made in lieu of his definition at the player's hands. Of course it is. If you'll note, I didn't say Arcanum's character motivation was better than that of Baldur's Gate 2; I said I found character motivations in Arcanum are just as lacking as most other games out there, Baldur's Gate 2 or Deus Ex being the examples you asked me to provide. wait what I always considered debuffs to be spells which removed additional protections placed on characters, such as a Dispel effect clearing up the effects of a 'buffed' mage who had cast Armor or Ironskin on himself.

His kit being tied to his place in the story only clicked after he made questions about the PC's past. If there had been more but subtler interjections, instead one large dialogue clearly foreshadowing his exagerated concern about the PC's lineage, maybe his intention wouldn't have been so noticeable.

No, O RLY is forevah!

I'd like to see a setting which took on the premise of Arcanum - of magic and technology opposing itself - but not on all levels, meaning some magic and technology could work together. The more powerful the magic and the technology involved, the more dangerous it would be to make them work together; but the smaller manifestations could probably function together, such as magical projectiles being fitted into and used as flintlock ammunition, or small magical currents being used in street lamps. Perhaps there could be a middle ground with the use of electricity for the powering of vehicules to be replaced with an equivalen in magic so you'd have magical powered steam trains or flying ships.

Say Megatron, whatever do you plan on doing with that big arm cannon?

Optimus Prime's bastard son?

I don't think I've ever been called a nutjob. On the other hand I'm pretty sure a handful of people would agree with me when I say I should be dragged into a dark alley and taken out. Am I right, fellas? Eh, eh? :: wink, wink ::

You mean he is a warped version of what I could become? :ph34r:

Traps worked in many places, from the more obvious narrow corridor to wider spaces. Places I remember using them included the Black Mountain Clan mines, Tarant and Caladon sewers, the Dredge, the Vendigroth Ruins, and many of the gameworlds' dungeons. In the city, I used many traps in the Boil. Quite, hence why I didn't suggest otherwise. Why should the existence of crippling attacks, or critical hits and failures be disregarded because they aren't directly controlled by the character? It's a valid example of how physical attacks are different than magic. There were called shots and three distinct areas one could aim at: head, torso and legs. I think this was done by pressing Ctrl+the attack button. You'll know it's a targetted attack when you see a head, torso or leg icon next to the cursor. Critical hits could cause characters to become stunned, drop their weapons, damage their weapons or armor, and instead critically hit themselves for considerable damage. Playerwise, a scar derivative from a critical hit would temporarily have a negative impact on the Beauty attribute. Critical hits to the best of my knowledge weren't necessarily tied to a high melee skill but rather to a high To Hit chance, which in turn was based on skill modifiers (such as Perception determining your To Hit success with Firearms), item types (such as having a highly magical character use a technological weapon, or a character using a weapon which had a bonus to Critical Hit rates) and conditions (items which are broken have higher chances of critically failing), and on ocasion, visibility (such as light sources helping visibility, or their absence limiting it).

Entangle holds on position but the target is awake so if a PC was to approach them enemies would still be able to hit. The Tranquilizer Gun pretty much stuns them on their spot (which, unlike a Stun Grenade does not have kickback). The Acid Gun can tear apart enemy armor and weapons as it fires acid rounds. Not sure I'd call these debuffs, unless we're considering different meanings for the word. Not much advantage? Paralyzing opponents allows a PC to momentarily perform other actions with considerable safety; paralyzing opponents and throw a grenade which throws opponents into several directions allows the PC to use the gained distance between itself and the opponents to perform other actions with an even greater safety margin. During that time players can either heal or buff themselves and/or party members, keep attacking, take the chance to position themselves in more convenient locations, or even run away. Whereas stunning and closing in to stab may work great against one opponent but risks leaving the PC open to danger should the opponents wake up by the end of the turn. It's obvious none of this compares to any tactical options that great wars are made of, but it's not as utterly ineffective as you seem to suggest. Which doesn't make it any less valid of a combat option. Of course I have to keep attacking an enemy if it's not dead. You can replace "vapors, vapors, vapors" with any other desired attack option as long as it results in success, ie, replace an area of effect spell which causes damage every round with melee attacks, throwing grenades of various effects at them, attacking with firearms, summoning, or using direct damage spells on each target one by one. Hardened Hands also doesn't risk breaking nor can it be damaged by hitting elemental opponents. That's three differences already when compared to using a melee weapon. Congeal Time basically halves opponent's action points while more dexterity increases the PC's action points by every point invested. It's clearly not the same thing. In fact, as a combat option it's much more immediate than developing a character for a long time until it has a large amount of action points. That's fine. I'd just appreciate if you would notice that I'm not saying Arcanum's combat is good or that it wouldn't benefit from more options and enemy attack routines that required their use, but what little is there isn't completely devoid of options. You're free to remove "force, force, force" and sub in other methods.

Possibly, but the standard tends to be on conquering the world to rule over it; this wasn't Kerghan's case. It may be, but it's still assuming. In fact, the assumption harkens back to the original Baldur's Gate: it's always brought up, both in the character's background and in a handful of character interactions that Imoen was your childhood friend. This was done even with evil characters, which in a way suggests that evil characters would stand being around someone on the good spectrum such as Imoen or that she would stand being around someone on the evil spectrum such as the PC. It's suggested the character must have affection towards her but it's still an assumption that the character would have any noteworthy bonds; there was no means to connect with the character at all because when the game begins it's already happening way after any relationship ever happened. Worse, is that any character bonding that happens with Imoen at all in the series is after the PC rescues her from Spellhold, not before. A character doesn't have to follow those guidelines in order to be "my" character. By your own logic, and discarding the possibility of having the character talk as I want him to, then that would suggest a player-created Bhaalspawn, or Vault Dweller, aren't my characters because they also don't look the way I look, I can't dress them the way I want, and they have totally predefined backgrounds as well. Yet they very much are, and play as if they are my characters. Even then, I heavilly disagree with your notion that a character isn't a player's unless he looks like the player who creates it. JC Denton the character doesn't exist as long as his actions and decisions are the players' to make. Otherwise, the game is loosely going from allowing a measure of character control to the player and removing it the next instance; it's conveniently altering between roleplaying and adventure game mechanics. And if that is the case then what is the point in roleplaying the character if it's going to act on its own? I'd rather have no control over his dialogue or have no saying in the construction of his persona than have my input only matter as long as it serves the history but have it nullified when it doesn't. Strong narratives do not have to exclude character development. Planescape: Torment also has a strong narrative and allows me more chances to define my character than Deus Ex including, but not limited to, joining with different sects. The Nameless One was also very clearly a character who had been created by someone else, and who had an extensively developed background that had happened independantly of player input. I don't need to see myself as a character in order to roleplay it. Clearly if the developers wanted me to rescue Imoen they would have only included that option in the plot, but they didn't. Hence why they added revenge or some thirst for power as additional motivation. Again, if they want something to be forced on players then go ahead; don't give them a motivation which is either meaningless or that relies too much on assumption.

Blood Omen 2?

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn comes to mind. Characters were expected to have some motivation to care for Imoen and to try to rescue her. They were also expected to have some motivation to even bother with Irenicus and to try to give chase. First time I played trough I couldn't believe I was nearly forced to care for Imoen but she wasn't even an important character after that, and that I would have had less problems if I hadn't chased Irenicus into Spellhold. Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't. Deus Ex is another example, as it also assumed too much that the main character would have a motivation to follow trough the predetermined path instead of choosing who to work for, or that he wanted to switch sides. Everything up to that point was pretty good but the ending sections were what threw me off. I disagree; as I've said, I find Arcanum's combat was unbalanced and ultimately poor. But it was also the player's decision to not use what was available to him. There were various combat options available which were simply not used in favor of quicker or stronger options, but deciding not to use them doesn't mean they weren't there. It certain wasn't as deep as I would have liked it to be, but there was some depth. No need for that last bit, really. I rarely, if ever, play mods. However, if you want to talk about solo builds, I can share some I've made for Arcanum. One involved a human with the Idiot Savant background who used only a knife as his primary weapon. Further down the road he also developed Molotovs, a Tranquilizer Gun, and an Acid Gun; after he'd paralyze and hallucinate enemies in combat then close in for the kill with Backstab or simple melee attacks. Another build was a Half-Ogre who was an adept at the Nature, Temporal, Air and Morph spell colleges, along with some Melee skill. Basically he'd cast Entangle, followed by Poisonous Vapors and wait out until enemies died from the poison. The ones that didn't would die at his hands after he cast Hardened Hands and Congeal Time. Another was more 'standard' but involved a Dwarf who was proficient at Melee and crafted himself a Flamethrower and Pyrotechnic Axe. I think he also used grenades of nearly all kinds. Damn runt was a skull splitting undead buster. I also created a gnome who invested into diplomacy, gambling, and the Phantasm and Conveyance spell colleges, and he survived up until the island of Thanatos. I say he survived until then not because he died but because I don't recall having finished the game with him because I quit. Nonetheless, he was working out fine especially considering he had no melee or ranged skills whatsoever. Finally, I remember having created an Elven character who focused on Thieving and Technological skills, and focused on ranged combat only. No melee backup weapons. There's likely more solo builds I did in my time but I think these are enough. There were some other combat options I'd use back in the day, such as sneaking around and placing traps, then getting the enemies attention; I'd then jump around with Spatial Distortion trough the mined area and watch enemies get torn apart with the traps. I also created Walls of Fire and throw enemies into it with Unseen Force. Not quite, physical attacks could not only be targetted but they could also cripple enemies, while spells couldn't. Sorry about that. Again, it's been a while since I've played so I can't precise just who cast magic and use ranged but I think I can find more on a replay, though. Or wait until the NPC went somewhere. I don't recall having been able to steal from shops with Unlocking Cantrip but recall some where lockpicking worked, though. Not really, but I think there's some other situations where it's actually much more noticeable such as technological characters being able to use magical potions with no problem but magical equipment lost some of its power on their hands (guess stomachs are insulated against harmful effects). On the other hand, the perceived lack of depth that would lead players to only focusing on one or two combat methods seems misleading.

I would have also enjoyed a less linear main path, no doubt, or one that had more multiple ways of going trough its choke points. Still, there were at least two ways of dealing with most of them which while not ideal seemed to work. They weren't accomplished writers by the time of Arcanum, at least; and they certainly didn't show any skill they might possess in Temple of Elemental Evil. Again, it was only with Bloodlines they showed a bit more of what they could do. In Arcanum it seemed they deliberately tried to come up with elements that would forcefully make their game unique or different in some way, as seen in the multiple story twists and setting. Some worked, some didn't. Storywise it wasn't as successful. I think most of them still gravitate around that particular plot, or some derivation thereof; though it's generally the methods to achieve it that change. Oh, I'm aware of the Dark Helm dealio. But I can guarantee you this wasn't the case. I don't remember if the prophecy expected the ressurection to entail all of Nasrudin's virtues or just his power (at which point it was debatable if Virgil was seeing trough the fullfilment of the prophecy considering that the PC should also be a force of virtue, or if he was just following me around to see me show any hint at anything else that might've suggested a telltrace of Nasrudin), but I agree that it wasn't, as I've said, well exposed.

Not sure if this is directed at me, but I wasn't refering to you on my previous post. The 'drooling fanboy' bit was directed more at people who review games and go "Wow, what can I say about gameplay? Just WOW!!1!1!"

While my reviews often get longwinded, I try my best to be as informative of the game as possible. I want to avoid falling into the drooling fanboy syndrome, and just blather on about how everything is awesome! or crap!

I apologize in advance to anyone who reads this and finds typos, omissions and other types of errors, but this was written today under feverish influence. If corrections are in order, let me know as I also plan to submit this review for some sites. As promised to metadigital, here is the review. Since I assume others might read this as well and some of them may not know the series I tried to give some background information on the series and general gameplay. A long time sucking Ever since the arrogant nobleman Kain took the chance to come back to life in the form of a bloodthirsty vampire to exact revenge against those who had murdered him in Silicon Knight

And how many publishers are willing to finance a game that would visually show disenbowelment, splitting skulls, pulling out eyes and some such? Any of those would make anti-Grand Theft Auto inquisitors to cream their pants at just how much censure they could apply, or suggest be applied. Also, text is many times downplayed in face of graphics but we're forgetting that text, including the one in Torment, is also used to describe things which we can't visually show such as the sense of smell. How would the particular smell of the Mortuary, for instance, be described visually to players?